{"id":27297,"date":"2014-11-20T06:30:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T17:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=27297"},"modified":"2014-11-19T23:07:59","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T10:07:59","slug":"ithaca-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2014\/11\/20\/ithaca-conversations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ithaca Conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, I featured the poem One Day<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, from my Ithaca Conversations<\/strong> sequence as this week’s Tuesday Poem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As I noted on Tuesday, the Ithaca Conversations<\/strong> sequence is a slant-wise (to paraphrase Emily Dickinson) look at characters and events from Homer\u2019s The Odyssey<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Over recent years, I’ve featured several other poems from the sequence, so I thought I’d do a wee feature today, with links to the full poems. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

So, in order posted since 2010:<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"poetry_takahe62\"<\/a>“The Wayfarer: Odysseus at Dodona<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Acorns lie strewn with old leaves, thick<\/em><\/span>
\n as years beneath the shadow of spreading oaks<\/em><\/span>
\n where an old woman stoops, picking up sticks<\/em><\/span>
\n that are no more or less twisted than she, binding<\/em><\/span>
\n them onto her bent back, and watching with one<\/em><\/span>
\n bright, blackbird eye as the wayfarer approaches,<\/em><\/span>
\n an oar balanced across his knotted shoulder, his eyes<\/em><\/span>
\n narrowed between deep seams, as one who has looked<\/em><\/span>
\n out to numerous horizons and seen wonders…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read the full poem, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Wayfarer<\/em> was a finalist in the Takahe <\/strong><\/a>Poetry Competition in 2006 (judged by David Howard<\/strong>)<\/a> and published in Takahe<\/strong> 62. The post includes a reasonably full discussion of the Ithaca Conversations<\/strong> sequence.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

“Argos<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Lying nose to paws in the shadow of the arched gate,<\/em><\/span>
\n eyes fixed on the white, twisting road to the sea,<\/em><\/span>
\n listening for the familiar footstep, the beloved voice<\/em><\/span>
\n that urged me on as we raced together, over<\/em><\/span>
\n the rocky mountainside, both young, both strong<\/em><\/span>
\n of heart \u2013 how my voice echoed in the craggy<\/em><\/span>
\n heights, belling out for stag, or wild boar:\u00a0 all done,<\/em><\/span>
\n all done with now…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read the full poem, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Argos<\/em> won Australia\u2019s A2O poetry competition in 2007 and was published in the Writerlynks anthology Grow<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

“The Trojan Shore<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"JAAM<\/a>Tonight, the wind blows bitter<\/em><\/span>
\n from the stony heights<\/em><\/span>
\n beyond the city, gusts<\/em><\/span>
\n at the thousand cook-fires,<\/em><\/span>
\n lifts dust and grit from the plain,<\/em><\/span>
\n driving through tent flaps<\/em><\/span>
\n and into eyes, rank<\/em><\/span>
\n with the stench of a siege camp…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read the full poem, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trojan Shore<\/em> was published in JAAM 2008, edited by Tim Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

“Homing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He hears it, in every slap<\/em><\/span>
\nof wave against wood,<\/em><\/span>
\nas the ship cleaves water<\/em><\/span>
\nlike a seabird, hears the word<\/em><\/span>
\nthat he has hungered for<\/em><\/span>
\nthrough the lost years,<\/em><\/span>
\nwhispered to him now<\/em><\/span>
\nby the sea as it bears him up,<\/em><\/span>
\nspeeds him on like a lover<\/em><\/span>
\nto the consummation<\/em><\/span>
\nof his long-held dream<\/em><\/span>
\nof home…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read the full poem, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Homing<\/em> was also published in JAAM<\/a> 2008, edited by Tim Jones.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

To finish, we had better come back to One Day<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Interlitq<\/a>

Interlitq 14<\/p><\/div>\n

“One Day<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He sits in the wide door to his father\u2019s house,<\/span><\/em>
\n playing with toys,<\/span><\/em>
\n crudely painted soldiers with gilded helms,<\/span><\/em>
\n gleaming in the sun.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

His nurse tells him he is a prince,<\/span><\/em>
\n will be a king some day, and a warrior;<\/span><\/em>
\n his mother stoops, whispers,<\/span><\/em>
\n tells him of his father who is king,<\/span><\/em>
\n long lost, long sought,<\/span><\/em>
\n longed for \u2026”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The poem was posted in full on Tuesday, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One Day<\/em> was published in International Literary Quarterly<\/strong><\/a> 14, February 2011<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

This is not all the Ithaca Conversations poems, but I hope it gives you a feeling for the sequence. Enjoy.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, I featured the poem One Day, from my Ithaca Conversations sequence as this week’s Tuesday Poem. As I noted on Tuesday, the Ithaca Conversations sequence is a slant-wise (to paraphrase Emily Dickinson) look at characters and events from Homer\u2019s The Odyssey. Over recent years, I’ve featured several other poems from the sequence, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27297"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27333,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27297\/revisions\/27333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}